Windows Mail

alientrader1 said:

...I just want a simple e-mail program like Outlook Express or Windows Mail, because I just do very simple stuff...

I agree with you. Poppa Bear wrote the tutorial and he (and I) used WM on Win7 for a brief period. But we have both since decided to give WLM a real try and are still with it. Unfortunately, the new features hide the basic functionality somewhat, but it can do whatever WM did. It has the advantage of still being supported by Microsoft and is not as likely as WM to suffer from some miscellaneous Windows Update for Windows 7 (as happened once with WM on 7).

When I "reinstated" WM on 7 I was lucky in that I only had to deal with the 32-bit steps; but even so, it was a bit tricky "unhiding" and "taking ownership of" stuff. Perhaps you could print out the instructions as I did when I did it and post back exactly at which step you got an unexpected result and what it was. Or you could try WLM instead and ask for help with what you can't find in WLM that you could in WM on Vista or OE in XP.

Thanks roncerr,

I will give it another try, and let you know where the problem begins.

I appreciate the option 18pcs mentioned, but Thunderbird is part of

Mozilla, and I find their stuff is still too complicated for me. I tried

FireFox and I couldn't even get the Autofill feature to work, as it

seemed to take a court order just to get it to work. I don't think that

I am completely stupid, but I just do simple things, and want simple

programs.

Thanks again,

Barry

For the benefit of friends and a family who do not wish to use Windows Live Mail I decided it would be interesting to test various email clients.

I have installed and tried 34 so far, I looked at other email clients and dismissed them without installing, it was apparent straight away that they were either unsuitable or just plain rubbish.
My criteria being to match or better Windows Mail or Outlook Express and must be easy to install and set up.
They must look good have a spell check, Bayesian spam filter and an inbuilt back up facility/wizard plus good import options for other email clients, they must also have a degree of customisation.

There was only three that met all of the above requirements!

Pocomail, paid.
This the best I feel for most people as direct replacement for WM or OE.

MailCOPA. paid.
Very good but no back up wizard, backing up is complicated.

The Bat Home, paid.
Very good, it is a very busy looking client but it can be thinned out to make it more uncluttered and less daunting.

The following were the next best, they are good ones but were missing some of the requirements that I feel are important.

GcMail, paid.
Very good but does not have a Bayesian spam filter.

EverDesk Mail Lite, free.
Very good and it’s free but it does not have a back up facility.

DreamMail, free.
Very good but does not have spell check, if it had that it would be among the best particularly as it’s free.

These remaining ones did not match the top six.
Evolution. eM Client. WikMail Pro.Pegasus. Thunderbird. Thinc-Mail.
Koomail. Mirramail. Sylpheed. yMail. Messenger Pro. Eudora. Zimbra.
Mail Warrior. Postbox, Postbox Express. Mail Commander. Element.
Becky. Columba. Mahogany. Vista NetMail. Iscribe. Mulberry. Pimmy.
Incredimail. TrulyMail. Foxmail.

Remember this is just my opinion.

Pete

pete39 said:

... easy to install and set up...
...spell check...Bayesian spam filter...back up facility/wizard...good import options...customisation...

Newsgroups?
Address Book (a.k.a. contacts)?
Message Rules (for sorting)?
Export to other fromats?
IMAP as well as POP3?
Choice of html or text?
Attachments?

As I said "My criteria being to match or better Windows Mail or Outlook Express."

pete39 said:

As I said "My criteria being to match or better Windows Mail or Outlook Express."

Sorry, I thought the limited list of features were your definition of "match or better". But if that's the main criterion, doesn't Windows Live Mail do that as well?

kewl1 said:

Don DeBaer said:

I did finally get WinMail to open on my Windows 7 Ultimate. I think some of the problem was the fact that it was 64 bit. In any case....now the problem is that every time it does open...Winmail creates a new set of recovered message folders each time. I did put in my messages that I and address file that I needed to keep that were under the User/App/local.......files....but I am not understanding why it recovers these files on each launch. Not the messages each time...but a whole new set of file folders for the messages. Do you know how to correct this??

I am getting the same thing. Every time I open WIndows Mail I get a new set of folders. It only happens on one of the 2 computers I fixed Windows mail on (thanks ti this thread) with Windows 7 Ultimate 64.

I'll try to attach a snip of what the folders look like. I've opened the bottom ot latest one to show what is in them ie they are like Russian dolls where each contains another.

You probably need to completely clean out Local Folders under AppData. To do this:

• Save all emails to a storage folder on your desktop.

• Show hidden folders by opening any folder and going to:

Tools --> Folder Options --> View --> Dot: Show hidden file, folders and drives.

• Open: Start orb --> User Name --> AppData --> Local --> Microsoft --> Windows Mail --> Local Folders

• Delete all files in this folder except Accounts files <-- keep these. See following diagram.

Note: The sub-folders of Inbox, Sent Items, etc, will be restored when you next open WinMail.

• Close everything --> open: WinMail on desktop --> Create any custom sub-folders you may require under Local Folders in the WinMail interface... NOT in Local Folders under AppData.

• Drag drop your saved emails from the storage folder on your desktop into the appropriate folders in WinMail Local Folders. You're done.

It should now start normally without re-creating recovered files.

roncerr said:

pete39 said:

As I said "My criteria being to match or better Windows Mail or Outlook Express."

Sorry, I thought the limited list of features were your definition of "match or better". But if that's the main criterion, doesn't Windows Live Mail do that as well?

Myself, friends and family do not wish to use Windows Live Mail, we don't want 'in the clouds' emailing.

pete39 said:

roncerr said:

pete39 said:

As I said "My criteria being to match or better Windows Mail or Outlook Express."

Sorry, I thought the limited list of features were your definition of "match or better". But if that's the main criterion, doesn't Windows Live Mail do that as well?

Myself, friends and family do not wish to use Windows Live Mail, we don't want 'in the clouds' emailing.

Buried in the too-many-features of WLM there is a way to avoid the cloud: Don't sign in. You can choose that option in the options list. You will also only see your "not-signed-in" contacts list when you are not signed in. (Just don't use "working offline" as that makes it impossible to send and receive mail just as with previous versions.) Also, don't use "Photo Email" which stores the full-rez image in the cloud with a thumbnail link in the email.